Critic Reviews

The sound in this game is suitably otherworldly, but there is one effect that drove me bonkers. Throughout some of the levels, a headache-inducing, siren-like noise wails in the background. A throbbing noise, which has a certain '50s sci-fi sound to it, is far less obtrusive. The explosions and gunfire are average at best. I enjoy most videogames in which shooting is the primary objective, and I enjoyed playing this one to a small degree. However, with some fundamental tweaking by the programmers here and there, it could've been so much better. I wanted to count Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom among my favorite ColecoVision titles, but it ranks somewhere in the middle of the pack.

To its credit, Buck Rogers does offer seven distinct stages, taking you into trenches, over planet surfaces, and through deep space before facing the Command Ship boss(!). After defeating the impressively large (but weak) boss, you're rewarded with the text "Nice play. Go on." Buck Roger's audio is equally lame, and its "musical score" (I'm being loose with the language here) sounds like a two-year-old pounding on a Casio keyboard. It's interesting to see all of the stages in Buck Rogers, but once you've done that, the game doesn't have much left to offer.